Week 2.5 begins...

Chicago has been such an adventure so far!

This weekend, Cady & Laura visited me, which was a blast. We explored the city, laid out at the beach, indulged in Chicago-style pizza and giant cinnamon rolls, took in a comedy show and had a fantastic time. Per usual, I was horrible at taking pictures and have nothing to show from this weekend. Luckily, I think they each have documented memories of this fun girls' weekend out!

What else have I been up to? Hmm...loving the location of my apartment! I am right between Wrigleyville and Lincoln Park, so I've been wandering around at both days and nights. I live just south of Belmont, which is an adventure in itself, very Ann Arbor-esque but a little more inappropriate. I'm excited to start working out at the company gym tomorrow after work- the class I'm taking M/Th is called Beach Bootcamp. I'm looking to do some strength training, yoga and spinning as well, and maybe pilates since I have no idea what pilates really is? It's one of the few exercise classes I haven't tried before. So I'll give that a go sometime soon. My aim is to start waking up early and go to the morning classes later this week.

Unfortunately, my body is nowhere near adjusted back to the States. On Saturday it was a gorgeous 80+ degrees and sunny weather, which I loved. Otherwise, I am freezing here! Unbelievable. It's June and I'm sleeping in a long sleeve shirt and pants with a blanket. I need sweaters all the time! Also, digestive problems have been extremely lame and I finally caved in to tums today. Highly unfortunate.


**
Update: Beach Bootcamp beat me up! (in a good way, of course) I am so sore and I came close to getting sick in the class. I learned my lesson- no garlic or chicken salad for lunch before exercising. Ohh man.

Today, work was great and I had too much to do! First day this has happened, and I hope it happens more frequently as well. Also hit up the grocery store tonight and bought a ton of vegetables, I went a little bit crazy, but it was all on sale! Spices as well, since Matt's supply is basic and I need chili powder, ginger and italian seasoning in any kitchen. Thrilling, right? I'm happy as a clam. I told myself I was going to stick to my list, and did so with the exception of only two treats- boursin and something deliciously chocolatey. Fantastic.

I also decided that I have to bring my lunch every day from now on, since the past two times I've gone to Catch & Carry (quick lunch spot in my building that has everything, but a bit more than I want to pay), I've gotten sides of pasta salad and chicken salad and have not felt the best after either. So leftovers & sandwiches, galore. I'm psyched to try some new veggie recipes that I found, like toast with cucumber & boursin, and tomato salad (that one's courtesy of the fabulous Hendricks sisters).

On another note, maybe I'm the next Oprah or Rachael Ray...I wouldn't mind. ;)

First Weekend back in Chicago

I completed my first week of work at my internship on Friday! Exciting. It's good to be back. I've also been enjoying being back in Chicago, such a large and different place compared to Legon/Accra. The buildings, per usual, are massive and I find myself looking up all the time.

I missed that.

I'm glad to be back.

I've been wandering around the city a bit, went downtown today and stopped by Grant Park for a bit and walked through the Blues Festival. Wandered up & down Wabash by work today instead of watching USA tie England in their World Cup match, and found an amazing cupcake shop called Sugar Bliss that has unparalleled cream cheese frosting on mini cupcakes (which were the perfect size). I got a Cinnamon Carrot cupcake.


It really was bliss.

Where my baby dey?

I am back home, but even more than that, I'm all moved in to my apartment in Chicago now :) Just about unpacked, and even went grocery shopping at the Jewel. It's a sweet apartment in Lakeview, just two seconds away from Marlee. Shenanigans are going down this summer as soon as she is finished with finals. Also,

I start work tomorrow! Ohmygosh. It seems like I've been waiting for this day to come for months now...

Aside. I miss Franka terribly. Best roommate. Also, the plane rides back to the states were super long. However, I had two amazing greeters waiting for me at the airport, Jason & Elainna were there with flowers & chocolate. Could not have asked for a better day yesterday! :)



Also some fantastic news- my nose is not broken and I won't need surgery! I am thrilled beyond belief. I have some problems with it, but the specialist said that a nasal spray should calm everything down... I haven't been able to breathe properly since I was smacked in the face at a basketball tournament back in March, but this should be great.

Ah, so many prospects for the coming days. I can't wait.

This song is one of many I will add to this blog, pictures are to come soon as well! Promise.

I slept in a rainforest on Saturday night

and it was awesome.

Kakum National Forest in Ghana was an adventure, for sure. So I'm going to leave it at that until I have more time on this computer, perhaps tomorrow or later tonight, when I will go into more detail about the trek there and back from Legon!

*We also did a canopy walk in the trees there. I hate to say it, but you should be jealous. The rainforest at 5:30am is a breathtaking place.

Ghana is fantastic. You take the good with the bad, but that's life.

I can't believe I will be at home at this time next week. Strange.

UPCI Sunday

UPCI = United Pentecostal Congregation International.

This morning I went to church with Justina, one of the Ghanaian girls here working on the project. She is a member of UPCI and it's two doors down from her home in Madina.

It was a very charismatic service, the pastor was welcoming and thanked the lord for "bringing sisters to join us today. " It was a unique experience- we came a half hour late to this almost 3 hour service, so we missed the dancing portion, but we were there for the sermon and the prayer session. Members of the Pentecostal church pray aloud and at the same time, each man and woman to his or her own prayer of choice, out loud, while the band is playing and the pastor is praying as well. The pastor prayed over us, even me, and placed his hand on my head, asking the Holy Spirit to intensify in my earthly body, among other things. I enjoyed the service immensely, it was such a different experience. Even though I was silent for the entire prayer portion, I was taking in everything around me, and experiencing the amount of emotions pouring out from every individual. The pastor was very welcoming and even bought the 5 of us who attended soft drinks at the end of the service. He came over to chat with us and invite us back. We might go back in two weeks. I for sure want to attend the Catholic church while I'm here, and maybe the Interdenominational church as well, I've heard it is very enjoyable and they are welcoming too.

We had another meeting for our Photovoice Project too, we are going back to the Market tomorrow to meet with the women there again and give them cameras this time. I've been on Facebook chat for the last two hours, chatting with some people I miss very much, so that has been really enjoyable. I can't wait to see everyone and get hugs!! :)

Tonight we are headed to Osu for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Hopefully it will be good. I'm very curious as to what they will have.

Bye for now!

Oh, and I'm going to training tomorrow again as well.

Love you and miss you all!

AWESOME.

Day in 5 bullet points, since it's 11:30 here and I have to wake up at 5am tomorrow morning:

1. 1st day of training with the U-G Women's Volleyball team. Great fun, as it turned out to be my roommate Franka and I for about an hour and a half before the Men's team showed up. (The girls showed up later...) The coach was instructing me on form, technique, etc. I am very sorry that I will not be here through June 10th, as he was interested in training me and teaching me the game so I could compete with the University of Ghana Women's Team in the Ghana University Games- about 6 or 7 of Ghana's top universities are coming to U-G from June 4-10 and playing tournaments. I wish I was around. That would be amazing! Regardless, he seems willing to train me- so I am so happy about that. 5:30 AM and 3PM Two-a-day's anyone? For now I will stick with the 3p as much as possible, as 5:30 is a stretch for at least a couple of days....

2. We just returned from the Street Dance 2010 Africa Semifinals. Wow. Totally America's Best Dance Crew, but all the crews are Ghanaian. It was an amazing competition! First round, all the crews had to dance to BEP's Boom Boom Pow, and the second was to their own mashups. Second round was much better. The amount of energy, people rushing the stage...it was such a fun experience.

3. Went to Madina Market this morning to make the initial contacts for our Photovoice project...I realize I have been lacking in the department about describing the project...one day I will describe more of it in detail. For now, we paired up and talked to different women. Franka was lucky enough to draw us the Cloth ladies, the ones who sell all the beautiful printed fabric at the Market. I haven't bought anything from them yet, but I know I will be back at least 5 more times, so I have time. I did buy a pair of small earrings, as my pearl earring for my third hole (cartilage piercing) fell out. Ah, I was devastated when I discovered that this morning. Especially since I didn't think to bring extras. And that earring I bought today is no good. I'm afraid the hole is going to close if I don't get to the mall soon. I think I will head there on Sunday if possible, as I need a gold or silver stud...which there is no way to find at the market- everything is costume jewelry. Who would have thought this would be so complicated? Huge bummer. I was also trying to avoid going to the mall...too commercial as I would rather support the market women. Alas, in a situation like this, I can't help it.

4. Dinner tonight was a fried chicken drumstick, a slice of watermelon, and curried rice!! I was so excited, I actually finished everything- first time since I've been here since the portions are huge when it comes to rice and starches (Franka tries to feed me all the time, she thinks I don't really eat...I'm just nowhere near used to the amount of food they give you here yet!)

5. We are going as a group to Cape Coast tomorrow all day- waking up at 5 to be on the bus at 6. No worries, planning on sleeping more on the bus and additionally, planning ahead and setting everything out. We are going to Kakun National forest and the slave castle, also, potentially the beach. Psyched.

Good night! OH, I also can't believe that my stay is almost halfway over...I have so much to do and see, ah I am not going to mention it again.

Have a good night, Ghana, and good evening in Michigan! :)

loving the eternal sauna called ghana.

So I'm going to quickly catch you up on what's been happening in my life here over the past couple of days. I have no idea when the last time I sat down and blogged was, I only know it was too long ago, so here's your quick glimpse into my life here in Ghana.

1. My hair is braided as of Saturday, about two feet long and red. It's gorgeous; I love it. Pictures can be found via the group blog here: http://gieughana.blogspot.com/ <- more details about many of the group activities can be found here. Take a look as soon as you're done reading this post!
2. Banku is quickly becoming one of my new favorite foods, with okra stew.
3. I was chosen to have a fantastic experience and meet the Queen Mother of Madina Market- one of the huge Markets here around Accra. Repped not only UM, but the US. Great experience.
4. Woke up to rain and horses whinnying outside of my window the other day. That was incredible, I thought I was seeing things.
5. Saw monkeys today. Took lots of pictures. One reminded me of Jason. ha!
6. World Cup mania everywhere. Exciting and I've seen so many jerseys everywhere, many people support Manchester and Arsenal, of course, I'm excited whenever I see an Arsenal Jersey.
7. I handwashed my own laundry. Quite an accomplishment.
8. Went to a film festival here on Tuesday night, saw three films- all documentaries: one on prayer camps, one on the former Emperor of Ethiopia, and the third on the first female journalist in Senegal. Very well done, they were fantastic.
9. Don't want to think about how much time I have left here, too sad.
10. The UG girls in our group are great. My roommate Franka, particularly, is something else.
11. Had pizza the other day- much smaller and less everything- similar-ish to Silvio's in Ann Arbor as far as the crust goes, tried two pieces of Hawaiian and wished I had my camera with me.
12. I'm exhausted and heading to bed early tonight. Sad, but needs to happen more here. The sun drains your energy!
13. I'm keeping track of how far I walk each day, thought it would be an interesting experiment, so I bought a pedometer before I left Michigan and have worn it each day I've been here. The first day we were here, we walked almost 7 miles, since then it's been about 3-5 a day. It's a good workout.
14. According to Franka, this morning when I woke up, she decided that I looked "very white" today. So I'm trying to change that, but for some reason I'm not really tanning? I have a little color. Hopefully this weekend's excursion to Cape Coast will change that! I don't look like I'm in Africa right now. I might as well be in Michigan or something where the sun doesn't shine in May.
15. I need to buy more dresses.
16. Did I mention how warm it is here? I think I'm going to lose 5 pounds of just sweat while I'm here, seriously. It's intense- thus, the sauna.
17. You should really check the group blog.
18. I see so many gorgeous printed fabrics everywhere I go- Shif would be in absolute heaven.
19. Speaking of Heaven, it 's interesting that almost every open shop in all of the markets has something to do with "god" in it's name. One of my favorites thus far is " God's time is the best" - makes me think and reminisce about Kairos.
20. Also about religion here in Ghana- I did not realize the extent of Christianity that exists here. It's such a culture shock from the US.
21. Music. People here like country music! Jacci, yes, many Africans like country! Also, Rihanna is easily the most loved female artist here.
22. "Swagger" is our group's favorite song.
23. American music is so influential, I hear it everywhere. Very familiar songs, though it's a totally different context and experience to hear them here instead of with friends back home.
24. Victoria, I promise I will buy you a dress soon.
25. I'm excited for the Cape Coast trip on Saturday. We are going to Kakun National Park, it has a canopy walk and waterfalls, and we are also visiting a slave castle. Should be an emotional but good day. We also have to wake up and be ready to go by 6am...least favorite part, which should be a surprise for none of you.

That's it for now! Check the group blog I posted in the first point! :D